New Football FanCast columnist Matt Williams looks at the ever changing ways that transfers are seemingly conducted in this country.

‘JULY 7TH!' That was the headline screaming from the Daily Mirror yesterday, stating the apparent date that Cristiano Ronaldo will sign for Real Madrid. It's been a long and drawn-out transfer saga, with each newspaper scraping for any scraps of new information that they can sensationalise.

And of course, Real Madrid are always happy to give it to them. The Spanish club have provided quote after quote, appearing to unsettle Ronaldo in such a way that United boss Alex Ferguson threatened with legal action.

But what has been so different here to the other thousand transfer rumours going on in what is affectionately known as ‘the silly season'? Sure, this transfer debacle was always going to be on a more high-profile scale, due to the sheer importance of the clubs and players involved. But read quotes from any manager commenting on their latest transfer targets and its hard not to jump to the same conclusions.

Now it's assumed that during pre-season each manager compiles a transfer list, and will then proceed to make faxes to the owners of those targeted players privately. (Incidentally, why is it that no-one ever uses fax machines anymore, except for when football clubs make transfer offers?)

For example, you imagine Portsmouth did exactly this in order to pursue Peter Crouch, but Liverpool rejected the bid and that would be that. Pompey boss Harry Redknapp would then have to ponder whether to increase his bid to something Liverpool would deem more acceptable, or move on to another transfer target.

But this is Harry Redknapp we're talking about. Instead of respecting Liverpool's wishes, a story is conveniently put out to the media with Redknapp stating that Liverpool's valuation of the striker is "far too high".

He then proceeded to tell the Telegraph: "Crouchie is a player who is on our list, but if nothing can be done then we will just move on to the next player". Funny how Portsmouth decided to speak to the press first before taking their own advice.

But they know that a cleverly placed quote here and there may just press Liverpool to force their hand, to react to the fact that no-one will pay the £15million they're asking and take whatever Redknapp will give them. Like in the Ronaldo case, Crouch may also decide that enough is enough and start campaigning for the move himself.

You cannot blame Harry Redknapp for doing what he is doing though. It is simply the way that transfers seem to be done these days. The victims of the Crouch scenario - Liverpool - can be fingered as doing the exact same thing in their pursuit of Gareth Barry. The Barry saga has been running on for so long now that it's almost being talked about as a done deal, with Liverpool even using the club captain Steven Gerrard to do their dirty work. Don't be surprised to hear the Anfield tea lady speaking to The Sun in the not too distant future urging Barry to make his ‘dream move' a reality.

The ever growing influence of the media in today's game means that it's becoming ever harder for transfer dealings to be conducted in private. ‘Inside sources' seem to pop up from everywhere, and even though hundreds of the rumours are blatant lies, the law of averages means one or two will have some substance.

The clubs and managers themselves are not making much effort to keep dealings under wraps though either, and why would they, when they know that a leaked quote or two can sometimes make all the difference?

So before Ferguson and the rest of the Premiership gets up in arms about the cheeky Spaniards playing games in order to get their man, they might want to look at the way they all conduct their own transfer dealings first.